This invention relates to construction or excavating equipment and, more particularly, to modifying equipment such as a front end loader or bucket loader with a hoisting gin or boom member so that equipment may be used for lifting or lowering objects in construction work, in addition to such normal work as trenching or excavating.
Equipment, such as bucket loaders, have been modified in the past to mount or carry boom members or cranes for special lifting applications. Normally such loaders are utilized for excavating and loading. With the addition of the boom attachment, the equipment is utilized for lifting objects such as pipe in the construction of sewers and drainage systems. The boom or crane attachments in the past have required a significant number of connections to the bucket or support such that the installation of the same is time consuming. More importantly, there is no provision on such construction equipment for storing the attachment when it is not in use. Consequently, a problem exists of having the attachment available and in proximity at a work site in order to facilitate connection and disconnection of the same. This contributes to time delays and adds to the cost of usage and operation of the equipment. Examples of such prior constructions are shown in the United States Patents to Swanson U.S. Pat. No. 3,092,259; Foster, U.S. Pat. No. 3,249,245 and DeCarli, U.S. Pat. No. 3,587,887.